At least 300 people detained in sweeps, according to LA immigration rights leader

Noah Goldberg, Melissa Gomez and Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times on Jun 10, 2025

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LOS ANGELES — An immigrants-rights leader in Los Angeles said about 300 people have been detained by federal authorities in California since sweeps began last week.

Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said her group used interviews with family members, conversations with elected officials and direct reporting from the ground to confirm detentions.

“Our communities are being terrorized. We’re in a state of terror. People are outraged at what’s happening,” she told the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday.

“I have never seen anything like this,” added Salas, who has worked in immigrants rights for 30 years.

Salas said her group confirmed raids at two locations of Ambiance Apparel, numerous car washes throughout the region, and a doughnut shop. A group of roofers in Westminster was also targeted by federal agents, she said.

The 300 figure includes people who were detained in Northern and Central California, said Edwin Carmona-Cruz, community engagement director at the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice.

Federal officials confirmed that hundreds of immigrants have have been arrested by ICE officers and agents since Friday.

At least two people detained Friday have already been deported to Mexico, according to Yliana Johansen-Méndez, chief program officer for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

“We heard our first case of someone that had been picked up that morning that we were trying to meet with, and by 7 p.m., the family reported to us that they were calling from Tijuana that they had already been deported,” Johansen-Méndez said during a virtual press conference on Tuesday.

“I was in disbelief. I thought surely this was a mistake. And then the next day, it happened again.”

Another family, she said, reported that one of their relatives had been picked up by immigration authorities on Saturday and was in Tijuana that night.

These are the only two confirmed cases that the organization is aware of, she said, largely because they don’t know where people are — the detainee locator may not have the individuals in their systems yet, and attorneys don’t often have the identification number that can be used to follow a case — and people are being moved very quickly, she said.

“We don’t know what’s happening with the majority of people,” Johansen-Méndez said. “People have been deported, but we don’t know the true impact on all of those who have been detained.”

Johansen-Méndez also said immigration officials in Los Angeles have severely restricted attorney access to detainees in ways attorneys have never seen, including limiting the number of attorneys allowed to enter detention centers or barring attorneys from bringing in laptops or phones.

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